Seahawks’ offense bounces back on Sunday night

SEATTLE — So what’s it going to be?

A week after a laying an egg in a disheartening loss, the Seattle Seahawks offense was simply outstanding in a 40-7 NFL victory over Carolina on Sunday at CenturyLink Field.

“That was fun,” Seattle wide receiver Jermaine Kearse said. “We had the mindset to come out here and put out a good performance offensively, and we played a solid ball game.”

This is not the same Carolina team that went to the Super Bowl last season, by any means, but it’s still a decent defensive team, ranked 16th in the NFL in total defense.

But the Seahawks completely had their way on offense.

Seattle racked up 29 first downs, 240 rushing yards, and 534 total yards. All those figures, plus the 40 points, are season highs.

The previous season highs were 152 rushing yards and 439 total yards two weeks against Philadelphia, and 37 points against San Francisco in Week 3.

All that a week after the offense managed just 245 yards and three points in a disheartening 14-5 loss to Tampa Bay.

How does that happen? And which is the anomaly?

“Last week we just weren’t us,” Seattle center Justin Britt said. “It was one of those games that just didn’t feel right. I don’t know what it was.

“We got back to being the best us, playing Seahawk ball this week in practice and really just being true to ourselves,” Britt said. “We had a great week of that.”

Overall, the trend does seem to be upward. Prior to the clunker last week against Tampa Bay, the Seahawks topped 400 yards in back-to-back victories over New England and Philadelphia.

And Sunday they passed the eye test with flying colors, in large part because they are getting healthy.

Running back Thomas Rawls, quarterback Russell Wilson and wide receiver/kick returner Tyler Lockett all appeared to back to full speed, which gave the offense an explosiveness that has been lacking for most of the season.

Rawls, playing just his second game after recovering from a cracked fibula, ran the ball 15 times for 106 yards and two touchdowns, one of them from 45 yards out.

“Just my body, I just knew this morning that I was feeling loose. I felt different. I was feeling lighter on my feet that I could make cuts that I haven’t been making,” Rawls said. “I had a great week of running, and I was back to being myself.”

Wilson said nobody should be surprised that Rawls at full strength can make such a difference.

“He’s kind of always been the underdog, like a lot of us, and it’s very, very simple,” Wilson said of Rawls. “It just comes back to the work. Every time he touches the ball in practice, he’s running hard. He’s passionate, and you expect greatness from him.”

Like Rawls, Lockett also appeared to be up to full speed after working through an injury for most of the season so far, in his case a knee injury.

He had five receptions for 63 yards, a 46-yard kickoff return, and, most impressively, a 75-yard touchdown run on a fly sweep on the first play of the second half.

On that play, Lockett hit a hole that was well blocked by tight ends Nick Vannett and Brandon Williams, managed to stay inbounds while eluding safety Michael Griffin, and then beat everybody down the right sideline for the longest run by a Seahawk in the history of CenturyLink Field.

“I think I finally hit that extra gear,” Lockett said of being able to make a play like that.

“He’s so fast,” Wilson said of Lockett. “To be able to do that … the kid’s just so fast. That was pretty awesome to watch.”

Together with Wilson once again avoiding pressure and picking his spots on foot — three runs for 29 yards — it looked like an offense hitting its stride at the right time of the season.

“To have all of them cohesively working, healthy, 100 percent and being the best them, that’s only going to help us, and you got highlights of that today,” Britt said.

It was the first time Seattle scored 40 or more points since beating Denver 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII.

“With our offense, when we’re clicking and things are going and we stay on schedule, we have no doubt that we can do things like that,” Seattle wide receiver Jermaine Kearse said. “And we showed that tonight.”